An Empirical Study on the Sources of C2C Sellers´ Perceived Risk and Their Corresponding Relationship with Perceived Risk Types

The C2C market is now occupying the dominant position of online retail market. The problem of its perceived risk is becoming increasingly conspicuous and shows different characters from that of B2C market, of which the existence of sellers´ perceived risk is a typical example. In order to find practical measures to reduce the C2C sellers´ perceived risk, this study analyzed the sources of which, employing the methodology of content analysis and using the posts of the Answer Center of EBay as the sample. The results suggest that there are 7 kinds of sources of C2C sellers´ perceived risk: the sellers´ unusual behavior; the buyers´ violation of the transactional rules; the instability of transaction system; the buyers´ incredibility; the unfair policies in transaction; the instability of the third party payment and the buyers´ delayed response. Finally, several managerial implications derived from the results were suggested.